


paradise

by stephenssupreme



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angel Crowley (Good Omens), Heaven & Hell, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-05-30 17:00:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19407535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stephenssupreme/pseuds/stephenssupreme
Summary: AU // where crowley and aziraphale knew each other in heaven before half the angels fell





	1. Chapter 1

Before Heaven and Hell, there was just - well - Heaven. Though, it wasn't called Heaven back then: it was called  _ Paradise _ . Granted, for most inhabitants, it was indeed a paradise since nothing bad ever seemed to happen. It was perfect in every sense. At least, that's what you were told to believe. How do you know something is perfect without having experienced what imperfect feels like.

To call what happened a 'rebellion' would be taking it too far. That's what Crowley (formerly Crawly) thought, at the very least. All he wanted was a little fun, bored of the repetitive and annoyingly angelic days. He ended up spending quite a bit of time with Lucifer and his gang, only seeing it as harmless fun. Crowley himself wasn't doing anything bad after all. Angels at that time didn't really know what 'bad' meant, honestly. The time he spent with them became less frequent, however, once he started talking to someone quite different.

Aziraphale.

◇◇◇  
  


He had found the blonde angel intriguing - the way he would lounge on the floor* beneath them, practicing is ethereal miracles.

* _ Paradise is how the books of old and new describe Heaven - up in the clouds, everyone wearing white, drenched in eternal light. This was before Heaven turned into a corporation, of course. _

Aziraphale had been creating early forms of flowers in preparation for the 'Eden Project' (no, not the botanical conservation orbs in Cornwall, England). And despite every single one of them looking beautiful, the angel seemed thoroughly disappointed with the results.

"Working overtime, are we?" Asked Crowley, crouching down to get on the other's respective level.

"I cannot get it right…  _ She _ asked for pink flowers and I keep making yellow." Aziraphale didn't even glance away from his cupped hands as he said this, yet another yellow lily-like flower appearing there on his palms. "Useless." Normally he would toss the failure into his ever growing pile of wilting flowers but before he could, another hand plucked it away from him. Only then did he take notice of his company.

A handsome man with sharp features but long, curled red hair that, by the looks of it, was soft to the touch. He had never seen another angel like him.

There was a moment where they were just staring at each other, the very concept of time itself coming to an abrupt halt.

"I like them," muttered Crowley, breaking the lingering silence, slotting the yellow flower into the side of his hair using the stem to anchor it in.

"My… May I say the yellow actually suits you…" Aziraphale trailed off, realising he didn't know the other angel's name.

He hated Crawly so instead, for the first time in his existence, he stated aloud: "Crowley."

The blonde smiled sweetly, cheeks changing to a welcoming pinkish blush.

" **_Aziraphale._ ** "

  
◇◇◇  
  


The pair had become inseparable from that point onwards. Often seen arm-in-arm with one another, muttering sweet nothings to pass the time. Paradise was full of love, most definitely, but if you looked closely, you would see that the hub of all that love was solely centred around the two of them.

It wasn't unusual for angels to form couples or romantic groups - gender and sexuality hadn't even been invented yet so it wasn't exactly a 'thing' they considered nor gave much thought to. So yes, you could call it a close bond and Aziraphale and Crowley were quite possibly the closest Im fact, some would say what they had together was the first ever marriage to exist - rings included.

Crowley had made them himself, a little miracle on his part. Aziraphale's had golden wings embracing each other and Crowley's had golden flowers designed to look like the ones his golden angel had been creating the day they first met. They wore them on their smallest fingers and on opposite hands because that meant whenever they were walking side by side, their hands would brush against each other, rings gently touching as they did so. A tiny yet potent reminder of their love.

◇◇◇

It was simply a bad case of fate which caused their time together to come to an unwelcomed and quite frankly… Painful end.

It all started when the 'Eden Project' was postponed indefinitely until future notice.

"Why is everyone so… Quiet?" Crowley asked while he and Aziraphale slowly wandered through Paradise.

"You heard about what's happening with  _ The Project _ , correct?"

He nodded.

"Well there have been whispers that the reason it's been put on hold is because God is investigating some angels who've become disobedient yet no one knows  _ who _ has disobeyed…"

Crowley didn't dare say a word. He knew who - he knew it was his old friends. Not wanting to worry his poor angel though, he simply shrugged, reaching down to hold his partner's hand as they walked.

And then it began.

**_IS PARADISE NOT ENOUGH FOR YOU?_ **

The voice of God herself rang out throughout Paradise, shaking everything around them. As a flight or fight response, all of the angels unfurled their wings. Only not everyone's wings were white anymore…

"Crowley!" Gasped Aziraphale: "your wings!" He instinctively started backing away from his love, much to his heart's dismay. He had never laid eyes on such a sight before in all of his existence.

At first, Crowley didn't know what he meant, he had sprung his wings out just like everyone else had done; it was only when he actually looked over his shoulder that he saw the terror that was black wings.

"No…  _ No! _ " He dropped to his knees and began begging and pleading with God, burning tears streaming down his pale features. He knew what this meant… It meant he had sinned. In a desperate attempt he looked up at Aziraphale wide eyed. " _ Help me. _ "

What Aziraphale saw shook him to the core. His eyes… His eyes were yellow, pupils now thin slits that were piercing to even look at. He also saw his dearest angel though, someone he would easily lay down his life for. His Crowley. And so he didn't mention the eyes, instead he did what he thought was best to protect his loved one.

"I'm here, darling." He ran back over and knelt down opposite him, wrapping his own soft white wings around the angel in order to hide him from any onlookers. In their feathered refuge, Aziraphale took the red haired demon's face into his own hands, wiping away the tears with his thumbs. "I love you. I've got you."

Just as they went to share a tearful kiss, the worst thing that could possibly happen, happened. Crowley began to fall through the clouds beneath them, only just managing to stay up by grabbing onto his partner.

"I don't want to-" Choked the falling angel, gasping for breath as he sobbed into his lover's arms.

"I won't let you," Aziraphale promised him, using all his strength to try and pull him back up into Paradise. It was no use though - the harder he tried, the more difficult it became until his unfortunately, hos grip faltered and Crowley dropped.

Heart wrenching screams exploded from the both of them, Aziraphale watching in horror through the broken hole in the cloud. Watching… Staring as Crowley kept falling, his red hair flowing behind him in the wind along with his newly darkened wings which refused to work. He raised a breathless hand up towards Aziraphale.

"Fly!" Shouted the blonde angel, his voice burdened with extreme agony. His words made no difference, however. It wasn't too late though. There was always a last resort and he was willing to take it for  _ him _ . Taking a deep breath, he readied himself to jump through after Crowley but just as he pushed himself forward, he felt a strong hand grab onto his shoulder.

He blacked out.


	2. Chapter 2

“What are we supposed to do with him?” Spoke a sharp, masculine voice.

“Send him down?” Suggested someone else.

“Oh, if I could, I would - trust me. Do you think _ She _ would allow that? She wants him for the Eden Project - his flowers were bullshit, sure, but she values his commitment or something like that.” His sentence ended with a huff, pacing away from the group for a moment of thought. “Michael - anything?” He asked.

“We could just… Make him forget? We all have miracles, perhaps we should use them, Gabriel?” Now that caught Gabriel’s attention.

“You’re right! I mean, we would all have to stick to this plan for all of eternity. Weave fake tales that he would believe as the truth.” He paused before walking back over; “it could work.”

Little did the archangels know, Aziraphale had been waking up during this time, vaguely listening in on their words. At first he didn’t quite understand what they were on about, however, he soon pieced it together. Crowley. They were going to make him forget Crowley.

In a panic, the blonde angel opened his eyes and sat bolt upright, glancing around for any chance of escape. “No!”

There were four familiar faces surrounding him: Gabriel, Michael, Uriel and Sandalphon and not one of them seemed happy to see him. Well, Sandalphon was smiling but even Aziraphale could see it wasn’t a pleasant one.

“Hey, hey… Aziraphale, calm down. Shush…” Gabriel held his hands up as if he was trying to quieten down a child but there was a fiery anger in his eyes.

“Just do it now!” Hissed Uriel, stood on the side with their arms crossed.

“You shan’t! You can’t!  _ She’ll  _ stop you!” Aziraphale was pleading with all he had, praying to a voice that wouldn’t answer him.

“Oh,  _ shut up and forget, already- _ ” With a snap of Gabriel’s fingers, Aziraphale blacked out once more, his body falling back to hit the marble slab behind him. Frankly, if his body had been human, he would have felt a warm trickle seep from the back of his head. Heaven’s first bloodshed.

◇◇◇

Meanwhile Crowley was curled up in a heap of broken wings on stone floor he had never seen before. It was warm… The air felt too hot to even breathe. Alone and scared… The fallen angel shivered and sobbed quietly - he didn't even notice the figure stood in front of him until it spoke.

"Didn't expect to see you down here, coward."

At this, Crowley raised his head and his tears suddenly dried. He recognised the man in front of him but he looked so… Different. Lucifer was thought to be the most beautiful angel in paradise (Crowley would disagree and state that was a title for Aziraphale, however). Now the gorgeous angel's skin was red and blotchy, boiling scars ripped open and singed beyond repair. Horrid. Lucifer looked horrific for the first time in his life.

"Where are we?" Crowley asked softly, sitting up a bit more, his wings still uselessly splayed out behind himself.

"Cast out. Buried under paradise and even Eden. Come Crawly: get up. We need everyone we can right now." Lucifer had offered a clawed hand to help his fellow fallen up from the ground but the name 'Crawly' stung like a raw burn. Crowley hated the fact his old group of 'friends' always forgot his name or said it wrong on purpose. He hauled himself up off the ground though, refusing to take Lucifer's hand in an act of defiance. 

They walked for what seemed like days, hell being a torrid nightmare that never began or ended. Back in paradise Crowley would gladly walk for days as long as it was at Aziraphale's side… He couldn't stop thinking about him. In need of hope and comfort, Crowley glanced at his hand, hoping to see the golden ring clinging around his finger and yet… There was no ring to be found.

"Wait!" He snapped, stopping in his tracks and forcing Lucifer to do so as well.

"Hm?"

"My ring! It must be somewhere, if we just go ba--" As he turned to look behind himself, he was confused to find it an empty cavern which even for them immortal beings was too treacherous to even consider crossing. Their environment had been shifting around them and they hadn't even realised.

"What ring?"

" _Our_ ring…"

◇◇◇

"I get the ring off." Gabriel had been trying to do so for ages, trying both physically and magically but it was no use. It would not budge and once Aziraphale awakened they would have no way to explain it to him without it sounding like a lie.

"Give 'im 'ere," slurred Sandalphon, begrudgingly making his way over to the table to get his greasy hands all over Azirpahale's. It was honestly a shock that he himself didn't fall with the others - perhaps he was an oversight? Either way, even a should-be-demon couldn't get the ring off. "Can't be done, boss."

"Boss? Huh, I like that." Gabriel paused mid-sentence to gloat a little before continuing: "anyway, I have a solution."

"Go on?" Hummed Uriel.

"Cut his hand off."

…

With a sigh, Michael forced herself into the conversation, shaking her head at that pathetic idea. "You're too violent sometimes - and that's coming from  _ me _ . Why don't we just all create the same ring for every angel of heaven? That way he'll never know any different. Sounds fair, right? It's pretty, afterall."

In unison, all four of them gazed down at the ring and silently agreed that it was the right thing to do. Cover up of the century. No, millennia. No… Eternity.

◇◇◇

And so the years went by and heaven and hell evolved in their own unique ways. Heaven stuck to the Eden Project and perfected their use of minor miracles to great a world that could accommodate humans just fittingly. Hell, on the other hand, focused on embracing their new found identities. Lucifer grew more hideous and so did many of the other demons - Crowley clung to whatever angelic energy he had left, however - he had a snake form these days but he'd rather be seen dead than have one sleep on his head like many of the other demons let happen.

Aziraphale went about his tasks not even knowing Crowley existed whereas Crowley constantly went through the turmoil of missing his one true love. They did have one thing in common, however: one fateful day they both got called to their respective head offices - not planned in the slightest, mind you - and were told they had been picked for a very important job.

Project Eden had started and God required a representative from each faction and oddly enough, they were the ones to be chosen...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> writing this instead of doing my essay? damn right :D

**Author's Note:**

> this will be a continuous work with more and more angst :^)


End file.
